Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
Anton Schindler
a Audio Enthusiast

Date Reviewed: April 24, 2014

Bottom Line:

I've read reviews in the audiophile press where the reviewer claimed a certain speaker informed him how far back from the stage apron the instrumentalists were seated, that he could tell that the first horn was seated 3 feet behind the first oboe, etc. As a concertgoer for nearly 50 years I can tell you that this just doesn't happen in real life. Yes, you get a sense of the location of the instruments, but nothing like the extreme pinpointing often described in the audio press (unless you're sitting on stage with the musicians). The Shahinians give you a truer sense of what it's like to be in a real concert hall, listening to a real orchestra, than most other speakers I've heard, bar none.

I have an older set of these and everytime I dust them off they amaze me, so much warmth and balanced sound from a modest package. They are the most natural sounding speakers I have every heard. The model I have includes a midrange dome, two softdomes (sides), a supertweeter (rear), and the 8" woofer and rear radiator... a very comfortable speaker to listen to.

In 1985 this was my first "real" speaker, it was the first generation by the way. When I was indoctrinated into the High End world I got on this treadmill and over the years spent lots of unimaginable money on audio equipment, some good and some bad and some I wish I still had, like the Conrad-Johnson Premier 10, Amrita Kronos loudspeakers and believe it or not I owned the flagship Shahinian Diapasons. (I sold those when I fell upon hard times and had to relocate and the space I acquired could not accomadate them.)

A recent version of the Obelisks became available locally and I went to hear them with some of my music, and within seconds I was overcome happiness. The realism and dynamics which you have to have in order to be moved was there in spades. A Carver M 1.5T amplifier was being and a B&K preamp was driving them. The Obelisk is a Diapason for those who don't have a lot of space - You loose nothing in the way of musical delivery. The purchase of these speakers has end my current stint with high efficiency speakers and low powered amps, though having much merit left me wanting after hearing the Obelisks again.

Tubes versus Solid State, 104db versus 82db, everyones got an opinion. The only thing that matters is the music and your connection to it and if your system can't make that happen for you somethings wrong.

Imagine a speaker, basically a rectangle box – with a pyramid stuck on top. Now imagine the rectangle box houses an 8inch wooer at the front hooked to a 10 inch passive radiator on the back.

Getting back to that pyramid, imagine the front and rear faces of the pyramid have a midrange driver and each of the 4 sides of the pyramid has a supertweeter in it. That’s a total of SEVEN drive units, PLUS ONE 10 inch passive radiator per speaker.

Now imagine what kind of soundstage and level of performance you would get with this kind of formidable set up…

I previously had a pair of Shahinian Arcs and were bowled over by their vast soundstage, ease of placement and realism. I’ll avoid getting into audiophile jargon as they simply let you enjoy the music.

After having the speakers for a number of years I wanted a change for something different (upgradeitits ??!?) and auditioned various speakers such as JM Focal lab stand mounts and B&W Nautilus 802D’s (although they didn’t sound like they’d been broken in) but I couldn’t find anything that ticked all the boxes plus more that my Arc’s did, some speakers performed better in some aspects but not in others. Argh.

By this stage, my own thoughts of looking at another pair of Shahinian’s were echoed by users in a thread I started over at www.audiogon.com explaining my dilemma, so I auditioned a pair of used Obelisks, which are the next up in the Shahinian range. Check out http://www.shahinianacoustics.com/ and http://www.stereophile.com/searchresults/index.html?terms=shahinian&x=14&y=16&stype=A for some research on this unsung and criminally unrecognized speaker manufacturer from NYC.

The Obelisks were demoed by being driven by a Linn system ( http://www.linn.co.uk/ - a 111w into 8 Ohms Chakra and UnidisK front end), the Obelisks immediately demonstrated the qualities I was looking for and what I would expect from the next model up from my Arc’s. My observations below refer not only to comparisons to my Arc’s but also all the other speakers I’ve listened to, indeed the Arc’s compare well in this company.

Having succumbed to the temptation and the Obelisks charm I bought the Obelisks home and partnered with my own system, consisting a of a Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista M3 amplifier and Tri-Vista 21 DAC and Sony CDP X-3000 transport and the Obelisks continued to demonstrate to a greater degree the qualities they began to impress me with in the store.

The soundstage took on a far more solid illusion - wider and more tangible than before – an ethereal airy quality (those supertweeters at all points of the compass doing their thing no doubt) both male & female voices, backing vocals were clean, natural separate entities in harmony within the same performance. The sheer, clear spaciousness of the performance was remarkable, the ambience of music you listened to really grabbing you in a wonderfully personal, intimate performance.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t just about breathy vocally performances, the Obelisks have bass performance that’s absolutely visceral - see the tech specs on the net to see just how low it goes.

Shahinian’s have a reputation for being superb with classical music and indeed they are, but they are also spectacular with rock and blues - Led Zep, Jimi, SRV, Buddy Guy, Pink Floyd all rip out of the Obelisks in such a way that ironically they make the speakers disappear to a degree I’ve only encountered rarely amongst speakers.

Bottom Line: These speakers are compact, punch WAY out their weight in terms of both performance and price and offer a truly special kinda performance regardless of whatever you choose to compare it with.

As a brand Shahinian does tend to plough it’s own furrow and because of this, people often speak out of ignorance regurgitating hearsay (not sounding musical, hard to place / drive, only good for classical etc.) None of which are true.

Check out these speakers and others in the Shahinian’s range – you’ll be doing yourself a favour.